Every day Poets & Writers Magazine scans the headlines—from publishing reports to academic announcements to literary dispatches—for all the news that creative writers need to know. Here are today's stories:
Pulitzer Prize–winning poet James Tate has died at age seventy-one. Tate authored more than twenty books of poetry in his lifetime, including Worshipful Company of Fletchers (1994), which won the National Book Award, and Selected Poems (1991), which won the Pulitzer Prize and the William Carlos Williams Award. From 2001 to 2007, Tate served as a chancellor for the Academy of American Poets. Read an interview with Tate from our online archive. (Daily Hampshire Gazette)
“I like the idea that we can make new, provisional entities out of whatever the world throws at us. I think that’s how we create our personalities—and it’s how I write poems.” At Literary Hub, Adam Fitzgerald interviews poet Rae Armantrout about her newest book, Itself (Wesleyan), and the intersections of art, science, and philosophy.
Is Amazon engaging in “Big Brother” activity? After discovering that the online retailer now monitors social networks to see who interacts with authors, then bans those users from reviewing the authors’ books, Romance novelist Jas Ward wrote an open letter to Amazon calling for the reversal of its review policy. The petition has received nearly 11,000 signatures so far. (Guardian)
Fiction writer Ben Marcus, who edited the forthcoming short story anthology New American Stories (Vintage), talks to Flavorwire about the art of putting together a literary anthology. “I thought of it more as a playlist or a mixtape, something that could hopefully draw you further in—to explore more and branch out.”
In a recent series of tweets, best-selling author Joanne Harris highlighted the ongoing sexism she has experienced in the publishing industry. “No man in publishing is ever described as ‘juggling’ anything. His work is art. Women’s work is a hobby.” (Telegraph)
Knopf announced yesterday that Wild author Cheryl Strayed will publish Brave Enough, a book of more than a hundred of her notable quotes, on October 27. (Entertainment Weekly)
The Blake Society’s effort to save Romantic poet and painter William Blake’s cottage in West Sussex, England, and turn it into a space for writers—an effort that has been in the works for two years—will continue with a fund-raising event in September. The event will take place at Waterstones bookstore in London, and will feature Blake-themed readings and discussions from authors including Deborah Levy, Rowan Coleman, and Richard Skinner. The house, which is privately owned, went on the market in 2013. (Melville House)
